A diverse set of analytical tools is required to characterize the complex structural properties of biopharmaceutical products and to ensure their quality, stability, safety, and efficacy. It is generally necessary to demonstrate that such tools are capable of measuring one or more intended attribute(s) of the product with a desired degree of precision, accuracy, linearity, specificity and sensitivity. Here we present a general framework upon which experiments may be designed to establish analytical procedure performance, predicated on the hypothesis that many analytical procedures have universal performance characteristics - that is, the validity of the measured result is a function of the measurement system and data characteristics and is not a function of the specific analyte being measured. Using simulated data, we demonstrate that the generalized approach improves the scientific validity of resulting descriptions of procedure performance by reducing the incidence of false failures and missed faults during future use of the procedure. Broad adoption of these principles will facilitate an improved understanding of procedure performance characteristics while requiring fewer human resources for procedure qualification studies.Principal component analysis (PCA) is a key tool for understanding population structure and controlling for population stratification in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). With the advent of large-scale datasets of genetic variation, there is a need for methods that can compute principal components (PCs) with scalable computational and memory requirements. We present ProPCA, a highly scalable method based on a probabilistic generative model, which computes the top PCs on genetic variation data efficiently. We applied ProPCA to compute the top five PCs on genotype data from the UK Biobank, consisting of 488,363 individuals and 146,671 SNPs, in about thirty minutes. To illustrate the utility of computing PCs in large samples, we leveraged the population structure inferred by ProPCA within White British individuals in the UK Biobank to identify several novel genome-wide signals of recent putative selection including missense mutations in RPGRIP1L and TLR4.The importance of dietary lipids in male reproduction are not as well understood as in females, in which dietary lipids, such as phospholipids (PL) and associated fatty acids (FA), are important structural components of the eggs and provide energy for their offspring. In mammals, lipids are suggested to be important for spermatogenesis and to structural components of the spermatozoa that could improve fertilization rates. New knowledge of how lipids affect sexual maturation in male Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), an important global aquaculture species, could provide tools to delay maturation and/or improve reproductive success. Therefore, changes in testicular composition of lipids and gene transcripts associated with spermatogenesis and lipid metabolism were studied in sexually maturing male salmon compared to immature males and females. An increase in total testis content of FA and PL, and a shift to higher PL composition was observed in maturing males, concomitant with increases in mRNA levels for genes inr to mammals, lipids are important to spermatogenesis and serve as structural components during testicular growth and maturation in Atlantic salmon.Background Vector-borne diseases are a public health problem in Colombia, where dengue virus infection is hyperendemic. The introduction of other arboviruses, such as chikungunya and Zika in the last three years, has aggravated the situation. Mobile health (mHealth) offers new strategies for strengthening health care and surveillance systems promoting the collection, delivery, and access of health information to professionals, researchers, and patients. Assessing mobile application performance has been a challenge in low- and middle-income countries due to the difficulty of implementing these technologies in different clinical settings. In this study, we evaluate the usability and acceptability of a mobile application, FeverDX, as a support tool in the management of patients with febrile syndrome and suspected arboviruses infection by general practitioners from Colombia. Methods A pilot implementation study was conducted to evaluate the usability and acceptability of FeverDX using the modified version of the y (median 5; IQR = 4.8-5), and information and scientific basis (median 4; IQR = 4-4). FeverDX scored well regarding user feedback (median 4; IQR = 4-4.5), design and aesthetics (median 4; IQR = 4-4.3), and subjective assessment of quality (median 4.5; IQR = 4.3-4.8). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/picropodophyllin-ppp.html Conclusions FeverDX, a mobile application, is a novel mHealth strategy to strengthen care processes and facilitate the detection and reporting of notifiable surveillance diseases. It could improve adherence to clinical practice guidelines for the management and prevention of prevalent diseases as arboviruses in healthcare settings. Although this pilot study used a small sample size, FeverDx performed adequately in a simulated emergency consultation. Further implementation studies are needed to increase the reliability of mHealth technologies in different scenarios.Introduction Intramuscular electroporation (IM/EP) is a vaccine delivery technique that improves the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. We evaluated the acceptability and tolerability of electroporation among healthy African study participants. Methods Forty-five participants were administered a DNA vaccine (HIV-MAG) or placebo by electroporation at three visits occurring at four week-intervals. At the end of each visit, participants were asked to rate pain at four times (1) when the device was placed on the skin and vaccine injected, before the electrical stimulation, (2) at the time of electrical stimulation and muscle contraction, and (3) at 10 minutes and (4) 30 minutes after the procedure was completed. For analyses, pain level was dichotomized as either "acceptable" (none/slight/uncomfortable) or "too much" (Intense, severe, and very severe) and examined over time using repeated measures models. Optional brief comments made by participants were summarized anecdotally. Results All 45 participants completed all three vaccination visits; none withdrew from the study due to the electroporation procedure.